To help you understand… … life with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

1. To help you understand…… life withObsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

2. Think of your mind as a multi-storey house. The top floor represents your comfort-zone; the basement is home to your worst fears; and the other floors represent your levels of anxiety in between.

3. Next, consider unwanted thoughts which lead to anxiety as being like water spilled on the top floor. A little water doesn't cause much harm and may be wiped away quickly.

4. When a lot of water is spilled, a lot of mopping is required. Mopping up is a response that's proportional to the size of the spillage. It's very important, too, to fix the cause of the flood. With or without OCD, everybody knows what it’s like to have worries and to have to mop them up.

5. OCD is an anxiety disorder that's like a lot of spilled water and a lot of mopping. The obsessive part of OCD involves the unwanted thoughts which lead to anxiety (the spilled water). The compulsive part of OCD is the counteractive response (the mopping up). Compulsions may be physical and noticeable or mental and hidden. Pleas of "why me?" show how strongly the obsessions are opposed. There are varying degrees of OCD, but it's a disorder because of the excessive time taken up by the obsessions and compulsions.

6. As with the water dripping its way towards the basement, obsessive OCD thoughts always try to creep into the next level of anxiety. Just when it looks as though the mopping effort might have worked, another gap in the floorboards is found. Obsessions can play tricks with undue feelings of responsibility, guilt, blame or shame, which add to the worry. Although the sufferer's perception of risk may have become obviously distorted, it’s important to realise that the anxiety always feels very, very real.

7. In severe cases, much of a sufferer's life is spent on the level of overwhelming anxiety, in the clutches of his or her worst fears. The obsessions are often unwanted thoughts of those things that the sufferer would least want to happen. This makes it extremely hard to talk about them. At the same time, the sufferer is likely to have become highly dependent upon compulsions for reassurance or be exhausted from fighting the thoughts by way of rumination. As a result, the OCD becomes very debilitating and impacts significantly on everyday life.

8. Meanwhile, it can feel as though family and friends are getting on with enjoying life, with little awareness of the genuine damage being caused to the sufferer's wellbeing. As a result, the sufferer may feel lonely, isolated and depressed. The combined effects of OCD may lead to both psychological and physical signs of stress. Self-esteem may have hit rock-bottom, which might even lead to thoughts or actions of self-harm.

9. People who are aware of OCD in somebody close to them can help by increasing their knowledge of the condition. This makes it easier to show understanding and to remind the sufferer that the obsession is just a thought. Family and friends can help the sufferer to refocus and should encourage and motivate the sufferer to remain involved in everyday activities. At the same time, it is extremely important that family and friends do not get drawn into "helping" with any compulsions, as this reinforces the sufferer's need for reassurance.

10. It’s not entirely understood what starts the flood – but the suffering and anxiety are real. Trying to mop up the continuous worries is a short-term measure and is not a solution. The long-term fix is to stop the flow at source. However, just as we're not all expert plumbers, it's sometimes necessary to call on professional help to tackle the flood and its causes. In the UK, there are guidelines in place that require suspected OCD to be addressed by way of appropriate referrals.

11. The first port-of-call is a sufferer's doctor. Doctors don't confirm the presence of OCD but can make a referral to the local community mental health team (CMHT). Doctors can also prescribe medication to help lift a sufferer's mood and relieve some of theanxiety symptoms. The next stage of professional help involves seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist, who can make a diagnosis. The recognised form of treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT attempts to tackle the worries at source and to make the sufferer respond differently to the things that trigger the anxiety. Sadly, waiting lists for CBT can be long.

12. Learning to live with reasonable doubt is important in dealing with OCD. Support from family and friends can restore confidence and self-esteem, which can help a sufferer to fight the condition, rather than just the symptoms. Combined with professional intervention if needed, it is possible to recover from OCD, even when it has been severe. On the road to getting better, sufferers will experience good and bad days… … but however hard it might seem, there really can be happier times ahead.

13. For further information, to connect with other sufferers online,or simply to read of their similar experiences, visit the OCD-UK website at:www.ocduk.org Registered charity number: 1103210 Working with and for people with OCD